The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in priority Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-174430, filed on Jun. 8, 2001, the contents of which is herein expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compressor with a built-in electric motor which is suitable to be mounted on a mobile structure such as a motor vehicle. The invention also relates to a mobile structure having such a compressor.
2. Description of Related Art
In a vehicle driven only by an engine, a compressor driven by the engine has been used for air-conditioning the vehicle compartment with the compressor being mounted alongside of the engine.
Hybrid vehicles having both an engine and an electric motor and traveling by use of one of them according to conditions have been practically used for going on public roads. Air-conditioning of the vehicle compartment of this hybrid vehicle is made by a refrigerating compressor driven by the engine in the same manner as conventional engine-driven vehicles, which is mounted alongside of the engine.
It is proposed that the engines of hybrid vehicles should be shut off while they are temporarily stationary at a place such as a traffic light in order to reduce effects of the engine upon the environment. When the proposal is followed with a vehicle where a compressor driven by the engine is used, air-conditioning stops each time when the vehicle stops, causing problem for the driver and passengers in the compartment in summer and winter seasons, and especially in regions with extremely cold or hot climate.
For solving such a problem, there is an idea of adopting a compressor 153 to be driven by an electric motor, especially a compressor to be used for air-conditioning in a building as shown in FIG. 2. The compressor with a built-in electric motor is housed in a container 152 made of iron, together with a compression mechanism 150 and an electric motor 151. In the hybrid vehicle, furthermore, the arrangement of devices in an engine room is based on that of the conventional motor vehicle. Thus, there is no space or location for installing the conventional compressor with the built-in electric motor for air-conditioning in the building in the engine room.
What is worse, the conventional compressor with the built-in electric motor has large axial dimensions. That is, a discharge port 154, a suction port 155, inner and outer electric connection parts 156, and a mounting leg portion 157 are longitudinally extended from both ends of the container 152. Such a complicated construction of the compressor is hardly incorporated in an electric-powered vehicle which has been only realized in a small-sized vehicle.
Simultaneously, the conventional compressor with the built-in electric motor is made of iron, so that the total weight thereof is about 9 kg or more. Thus, it becomes a problem in realizing the high speed and the energy saving because of the increase in driving load when it is mounted on the mobile structure.
It becomes urgent business to provide a small-sized and lightweight compressor with a built-in electric motor now in a tendency of planning an electric operation of various kinds of load by using a working voltage of 42 volts in a gasoline-powered vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or an electric-powered vehicle. For this reason, it is considered to use a compressor 159 with a built-in electric motor having a container 158 made of aluminum as shown in FIG. 3.
An electric motor 160 is operated under the inverter control so as to correspond to various kinds of conditions. An inverter control device 161 responsible for the inverter control and the compressor 159 are mounted on an appropriate fixing member in the vicinity thereof. As shown in FIG. 3, when the compressor 159 is fixed on the engine 162, the inverter control device 161 is fixed and supported on another fixing member 163 to avoid the high temperature engine 162.
However, even though the working voltage increases from 12 volts to 42 volts, it is still a low voltage compared with a working voltage of about 100 volts to 200 volts which is used for an air conditioning intended for home use. Consequently, if it tends to obtain the same output as that of about 100 volts to 200 volts, there is a need to feed a large current. For addressing such a requirement, a plurality of wirings for supplying the electric power between the inverter control device 161 and a terminal 164 provided on the container 158, a plurality of wirings for supplying the electric power between the terminal 164 and the electric motor 160, and an electrode are increased in size, thereby increasing the weight of the compressor. Furthermore, the generation of noise may be increased to influence on the peripheral electronic devices. In each of the cases, it will be a problem for mounting on the vehicle. What is worse, the increase in size leads to the increase in cost.
An object of the present invention is to provide a compressor with a built-in electric motor suitable for a mobile structure without causing the increase in weight, cost, and noise by shortening the wiring distance from the inverter device to the electric motor. Another object of the invention is to provide a mobile structure having such a compressor with a built-in electric motor.
To achieve the above objects, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a compressor with a built-in electric motor, including: a compression mechanism; the built-in electric motor for driving the compression mechanism; and a container for housing the compression mechanism and the built-in electric motor, wherein an inverter control device that performs an inverter control on the built-in electric motor is integrally provided on a part of the container and is connected to the electric motor.
According to such a configuration, since the inverter control device is provided on a part of the container, there is no need to provide comparatively long external wirings for connecting between the inverter control device and the container when the built-in electric motor housed in the container together with the compression mechanism is subjected to an inverter control by the inverter control device to operate the compression mechanism under various conditions. In addition, a single terminal can be shared between the connections for the inverter control device and the electric motor, so that one of the terminals conventionally used is removed. Accordingly, when it is mounted on the vehicle and used at a low voltage of 12 volts or 42 volts where the number of wirings and the size of electrode are increased, the wiring distance is shortened due to the elimination of external wirings, and the decrease in weight of the compressor is achieved because of reducing one of the terminals. Furthermore, the space for mounting the compressor including the inverter control device is reduced, so that the compressor is more easily mounted on the vehicle. Besides, there is an advantage in driving load and also in cost reduction.
A second aspect of the invention is to provide a compressor with a built-in electric motor, wherein an inverter control device that performs an inverter control on the built-in electric motor is integrally provided on a body of the container in which the compression mechanism and the electric motor are housed such that they are axially arranged in a line, and the inverter control device is connected to the electric motor.
According to such a configuration, the electric connection part of the inverter control device and the electric connection part of the electric motor housed in the body portion of the container become closer to each other. Thus, the length of the wiring in the container id reduced, and the weight and cost of the compressor depending on the wiring is reduced. Furthermore, the compressor of the present embodiment is easily installed in a restricted space of the vehicle since there is no need to increase the axial dimension of the container.
While novel features of the invention are set forth in the preceding, the invention, both as to organization and content, can be further understood and appreciated, along with other objects and features thereof, from the following detailed description and examples when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.